Bonaventure Has 4 Options

April 30, 2000|By JOE KOLLIN Staff Writer

WESTON — For $9 a month more than they pay now, property owners in the Bonaventure area could get $5.7 million in improvements, ranging from street lighting to better drainage to more landscaping and sidewalks.

And instead of paying mandatory fees to a private company to maintain city property, residents would pay an agency controlled by the City Commission. This would give them a voice for the first time in how their money is spent.

The city, if residents and commissioners agree, would do this by buying Keep Bonaventure Beautiful Corp., the for-profit company that assesses residential property owners to maintain city-owned property.

The city would use a taxing agency, the recently created Bonaventure Development District, to provide the service. The City Commission, which is elected by voters, would run the district.

At its latest public forum on the Bonaventure Improvement Plan, conducted Wednesday at the Bonaventure Town Center Club, city officials presented four financing options to the approximately 300 residents at the meeting.

Based on applause, public comments and interviews, most residents appeared to favor the city buying KBB and completing all projects in the improvement program at once.

"I think we're for it; we're definitely not for the status quo," Alan Stevens said of himself and his wife, Nicole.

"We want to see them go forward" with the purchase option, said Ted Klenosky.

The purchase option calls for the city buying KBB, taking over its functions and completing all of the $5.7 million worth of projects, which would be financed with bonds to be repaid over 30 years.

If this is approved, Bonaventure residents would no longer pay fees to KBB as required in the deeds to their homes and condos. Single-family homeowners and condo unit owners now pay $10 to $23 a month, depending on when the property was developed. Instead, all property owners, both residential and commercial, would pay the Bonaventure Development District an estimated $19 a month for each condo unit and $29 for each single-family home, regardless of when they were built.

About one-third of the money would come from commercial property owners who don't pay now, City Manager John Flint said.

This would increase the number of property owners who pay, spreading out the cost. Money the district collects would be used only in the Bonaventure area and not in the rest of Weston, Flint said.

The three other options presented to residents were:

Maintain the status quo. KBB would continue to assess property owners and Weston wouldn't provide any of the improvements.

KBB would continue as it is and the city would make $3 million in improvements, imposing a fee of $6 per condo unit and $9 for a single-family house. The combined cost, including KBB fees, would range between $16 and $32 a month. City and KBB employees would work alongside each other maintaining property. The city would be limited to making $3 million in improvements as the result of a lawsuit brought against it by KBB.

The city settles the lawsuit, is allowed to make all $5.7 million in improvements and KBB continues as it is. KBB would keep collecting its fees and the city would charge fees only to pay for making and maintaining its improvements. The city's fee would be $8 a month for a condo unit and $13 for a single-family home. The combined cost would be $18 to $36 a month.

The city's proposals are based on KBB's current fees. The firm can raise its fees based on the annual Cost of Living Index, up to 6 percent a year. Flint said the city also based its proposals on the anticipated cost of buying KBB, of making the improvements, of maintaining them for the first year and of borrowing the money. Maintenance costs likely would go up every year.

The suit that potentially blocks the city from making all of the improvements was brought by KBB in 1998 after the City Commission adopted a law setting minimum standards for public property maintained by private firms. KBB seeks to prevent the city from enforcing the standards.

City commissioners on Tuesday are scheduled to meet privately with their attorneys to discuss the lawsuit. They could give the attorneys the go-ahead to settle the case and purchase KBB. No action, however, could be taken until later public meetings.

Flint said a fact sheet giving the four proposals and the estimated costs is available for residents in the Bonaventure Town Center Club, 16690 Saddle Club Road.

City commissioners won't make decisions until later, but there were indications that they favor the purchase option. Mayor Harry Rosen noted that the cost isn't much more than the current amount and it would equalize the fees.